Adams Wins 2023 London Chess Classic Ahead of Gukesh, Niemann

52-year-old British GM Michael Adams won the 2023 London Chess Classic with an undefeated 6/9 performance to finish a half-point ahead of Iranian GM Amin Tabatabaei.

From the start, talk about the 13th iteration of this event centered on Indian GM Gukesh D. Not only was Gukesh the top-rated player in the event, but he trailed Dutch GM Anish Giri by a small margin in the FIDE Circuit. A clear-first finish would give him the inside track to earning the 2024 Candidates spot from finishing ahead of Giri, so the pressure was on.

Everything seemed to be going Gukesh's way until his fourth round game against French GM Jules Moussard. From a promising position, everything started to slip away:

Gukesh rebounded nicely two rounds later with a win over the world's strongest amateur:

As a result, he was still in contention for at least a tie for first headed into a last-round match-up against American GM Hans Niemann (more on him later). Indeed, a win over Niemann and and an Adams loss would even guarantee Gukesh his desired outcome of clear first. Hans had other plans:

Did the chess speak? @anishgiri pic.twitter.com/r0cuBLTVZI
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) December 10, 2023

Niemann lived up to his promise, eliminating even the outside chance of Gukesh overtaking Adams:

Adams himself had an unblemished performance with three wins, six draws, and no losses. But, of course, the results don't tell the fully story. Adams was in dire straits against Moussard before the Frenchman's luck soured:

For the most part, though, Adams was in impeccable form.

Adams (photo courtesy of the organizers)

His methodical takedown of Tabatabaei, to borrow words from another competitor, spoke for itself:

The other storyline heading into this event was, of course, whether Niemann would repeat his outstanding 8/9 performance at the Tournament of Peace from earlier this month. After three straight draws, Niemann made his mark in round four with a win over the tournament's youngest participant, IM Shreyas Royal.

But after a fourth draw, Niemann then lost back-to-back games, first against Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin, and then against Polish GM Mateusz Bartel. The latter is shown below:

As the only non-GM in the field, the 14-year-old Royal also had a chance to make a mark on the event, as he needed only a draw against Adams in the final round to earn his second GM norm.

Who is hungry emotions should watch this game! LCC23 last round started and we have game between Michael Adams v Shreyash Royal ( both ENG).Michael fight for win and Shreyash for a GM norm!@TelegraphChess @schoolschess @MickeyAdamsGM @HansMokeNiemann @DGukesh pic.twitter.com/EIgHaW3Cn5
— Agnieszka Milewska (@AgaMilewska123) December 10, 2023

As it happened, Adams also only needed a draw to clinch outright first in the tournament, and both players were able to shake hands and leave happy. Royal's 4/9 performance is particularly impressive considering the strength of the competition. His come-from-behind win against Moussard (again, fate can be cruel!) in the eighth round is easily one of the most tactically satisfying games of the event, if not the year:

After the conclusion of the Classic, competitors were joined by a number of local and national legends for a blitz tournament, which can be reviewed here.

Congratulations to Adams, who spoke on the significance of his victory here:

Where does winning the #LondonChessClassic rank for @MickeyAdamsGM?
"It’s huge, because to win any tournament at the age of 52 is just really amazing & this one is a completely different level to the other successes I had this year—in many ways it’s probably my best ever result!" pic.twitter.com/gomHp54LtN
— chess24.com (@chess24com) December 10, 2023